Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

For example, I know that the "standard" pricing model at $80M is something like $22 for SP, $10 for RP and $48 for hitters. Is there a similar "formula" at $100M?

Well, the 4 ACEs-no bullpen has clearly been successful. It consists typically of spending 40M+ on 4 aces, and 44-45M overall on pitching, leaving thus roughly 55M to spend on offense.

I'm wondering if another option wouldn't be to get 4 x 8M *SP(7). Some S7 are definitively cheaper than *SP(9) for the same quality. So I think there is an opening for a succesful strategy of getting 4 high-quality 8M *SP(7) and a one very good reliever. In my experience, I would say that a *SP(7) can complete a third of their games without being fatigued, so one very good reliever should be sufficient to deal with high-leverage situations. This option would probably cost around 40M (4 x 8M on SP + 7-8M on bullpen).

Teams using the super-reliever strategy in the 100M format usually spend more on their starting pitchers than in 80M environment. I still think (never tried it) that if you can get your hands on the 4 super-bargains SP, namely Pineiro, Duren, Henry and Klippstein, you can be very successful with a super-reliever like Sutter or Burke, even in a 100M settings. I don't know if I would go with another cheap 2.5M-3M starter (to complete the rotation) and a second super-reliever or if I would go with a *SP(9) and settle with only one super-reliever. In any case, both options are over 8M--closer to 10M in the case of a dominant *SP(9). So 8M-10M + 15M on the 4 super-bargains + 6M on a super-reliever+ 2-3M to fulfill the bullpen, this makes a sum between 32M and 34M. So I would suggest that 32M is the bare minimum you should spend on pitching in a 100M environment.

The logic with the second option is that teams with excellent offenses rarely play 3 consecutive games that are decided by relievers. So if you have one *SP who tosses a complete game on most occasions, you probably only need one super-reliever, with probably a second option in the 2M-3M zone, probably a R2, to close the games that the super-reliever or the dominant starter can't finish.

There is no optimal pricing model at 100M.

Option 1: The most consistently dominant is spending 15M total on 6 non star SP, 15M total on RP, and then the remaining 70M on hitters. This used to be my favorite strategy. I had my Donald and Klippstein and Henry all day long, no one touched these boys. Life was bliss. The problem with this approach is that now everyone and his brother targets the same 5-10 super value starting pitchers. So, you get stuck with pure sh%4 some of the time.

Option 2: The 4 ACES no bullpen strategy developed by me does what Marc says, 45M on pitching and 55M on batting. There are pros and cons of this approach: Pros are there are unlimited SP available so no one fights over anyone, and HAL can't mess up your team since there is minimal bullpen strategy. The Cons are: 1) You give up ~3 expected wins to Option 1 30M/70M on batting, 2) Those expected additional 3 wins can be as high as 6 or 7 if you get the right RP and you maximize their matchups each game and spot start effectively. Now, I HATE daily managing, I want to set my lineup and rotation, and not touch it for 162 games. Back when I was a kid and was in college, I loved daily tinkering, but these days I have zero time to do that. But, I will concede that the daily pitching matchups and especially daily RP matchups are how one can accumulate many more wins. It is just so tedious, I don't have time to baby all my teams each day.

Option 3: Then there is an option 3, which is the most dominant for postseason baseball. It is 2 big non star starters, 4 small non star starters totaling 25M, 15M on RP, and the remaining 60M on batters. This team design gives up a few wins at expected value to Option 1, but it can add up to 15% chances of your team winning a playoff series.

Thanks guys. Cristano, this team(which starts play tonight) is kind of a variation on your option 1, but with only $26 on pitching. I was worried about it before, but feel much better about it now

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1539642